


every morning the maple leaves

by etheriaslastbraincell



Series: litany in which certain things are crossed out [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, other characters will come in as the story goes...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:21:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24602281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etheriaslastbraincell/pseuds/etheriaslastbraincell
Summary: the movement of adora and catra's relationship, as told through excerpts from richard siken's poem of the same name. catra's pov thru all chapters
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: litany in which certain things are crossed out [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1778464
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	every morning the maple leaves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After she loses to Adora and her new friends at Sileneas, Catra has a nightmare.

_1\. Every morning the same big_

_and little words all spelling out desire, all spelling out:_

_You will be alone always and then you will die._

_“Catra, wait up!” Adora’s voice echoes off the walls behind her as Catra bounds down the hallway._

_“No way! You should_ keep _up!” Catra yells back, jumping to grab an exposed pipe with both hands and swinging herself through another doorway. Landing on all fours, she pauses to glance behind her, not wanting to lose her friend completely. “What’s it like being the world’s...” the sentence trails off at the end. Behind her, a sea of darkness is swallowing the hallway, leaving blank space where the ground and walls just were. “Adora?” Catra grips the door frame on either side of her, suddenly feeling herself lose balance. The darkness inches closer._

_“Catra,” she jumps at the voice coming from behind her, whipping her head around to come face to face with She-Ra. Catra holds on tighter to the door frame as the form in front of her glows, growing impossibly taller and taller before her. Eyes glowing like flashlights, like a cold beacon of justified anger._

_A boot to the middle of her chest. Catra’s grip starts to slip. Hiding behind She-Ra’s other foot there is a small child, the young Adora chasing after her in the hallway just moments before. She looks so scared, eyes wide and full of tears, holding desperately to She-Ra’s golden boot. “Make her go away!” Adora’s tiny voice cries. Does she mean me? Catra feels so small. She-Ra narrows her eyes and lifts her foot again, bringing it down forcefully to Catra’s chest. Catra feels her breastbone crack under the blow. Her hands lose their hold on the door frame, and she falls into the abyss below her._

_Catra opens her eyes to find herself treading water in an open ocean, the water a solid black that sludges with each of her movements. She coughs and sputters, trying to gain traction, trying to gulp air into her collapsing lungs. Above her, Adora and her new friends stand on a cliff next to the glowing Gate of Salineas, their laughter triumphant and light. There’s a hole in Catra’s chest where She-Ra’s boot landed, and it’s steadily filling with water. She sinks heavy as an anchor beneath the waves._

Catra wakes with a gasp, her body suspended in the air for a moment before she hits the cold floor. She’s shaking with each gulp of air, and it’s so dark she almost believes she’s still drowning in the black sea of her dream. Her right hand shoots up to her chest to check for the waterlogged wound where her heart should be, but finds her ribcage intact. It’s not a comforting discovery. She closes her eyes tightly for a moment and takes a deep breath through her nose, opening her eyes again on the exhale. The walls echo her labored breathing, reminding her of weakness and loss. There’s no way she’s falling back asleep after that one.

Catra untangles herself from the bed sheets and makes her way to the sink. In the mirror she catches her sunken eyes, face wet with tears. Her mouth forms a grimace as she twists the knobs of the faucet on. 

The images of her dream dissipate as she washes her tears away, but the tightness of her chest lingers. She straightens her spine, squares her shoulders, and meets her eyes in the mirror again. She imagines her heart rotting in her chest. It makes it easier to do what comes next.


End file.
